Ghost Tour
by netjer ankh
Summary: A New Orleans ghost tour encounters a certain white-haired, red-eyed thief. Warning: Marik Plays Bloodlines reference.


_**I don't own Yugioh.**_

Ashley had been doing these ghost tours for years, and she had to admit, they had made her into a believer. She had felt cold gusts go through her, she had felt invisible hands push her, heard voices of people who weren't there whisper in her ears. But she had yet to _see_ anything. Never had she witnessed an apparition, a light, or any sort of ghostly orb.

As she led her current group through the dark streets of New Orleans in the dead of night, she pondered on why. Why had the spirits she knew so much about, and believed in so firmly, refused to show themselves to her so far?

She was broken out of her pondering when they reached their destination, O'Riley's Inn.(A/N: I just made that name up. If you ever go to New Orleans, don't go looking for an 'O'Riley's Inn, because there probably isn't one.) It was supposedly one of the most haunted places in New Orleans, and Ashley had to admit, she had experienced an awful lot of unexplainable noises and feelings in the place.

"Alright folks," she turned to the tour group, most of them holding cameras and looking around with wide, interested eyes. "This is O'Riley's Inn, one of the most haunted places in N'Orleans. Now, it's open for business right now, but in all my years of leading tour groups, I've never seen anyone in the place at this time of night. The locals are too scared. So don't be alarmed if it's devoid of people. Living, anyway," she gave a slight smirk, and chuckles were heard.

However, when they entered, Ashley was shocked to see that there_ was_ someone there. There was a teenage boy sitting lengthwise on a couch, reading a rather thick book. But he didn't take away from the creepy atmosphere. If anything he added to it. He was silent as death, and didn't even look up as the group entered. In fact, Ashley might have thought he was dead if he hadn't flipped a page a few seconds after she came in. He was pale as death too, with long hair even whiter than his skin, and eyes she would have sworn were _red_ if she didn't know it wasn't possible. But then again, he could have been an albino... yes, that was it, that was why his eyes were such a deep, blood red.

The group stopped and looked at the admittedly handsome boy, whose tall, lean frame took up the length of the entire couch. Ashley was the one to break the silence.

"Well, I'll be darned. Looks like we have one brave soul present tonight. You're not worried about all the spirits, kid?" she asked, a smile on her face.

The boy chuckled and smirked a bit. "Hardly," he said, his voice deep and slightly accented. "I come here because of the spirits. No one's ever around because of them, which gives me a nice, quiet place to read my book," he finished, glancing over to the group, and when his eyes met hers, a small shiver of fear ran down her spine. Of course, that was ridiculous, she told herself. He couldn't be older than seventeen, there was no reason to be frightened of him.

As he went back to his book, Ashley turned to her tour group. "This inn is home to a countless amount of spirits, some passive, and some... malevolent. People have been pushed down stairs, felt hands wrap around their throats, and had glasses from the bar fly at them and shatter against walls.

"Now, there have been several priests here who attempted to exorcise these malevolent spirits, for the safety of the inns patrons, but none have been successful. Possibly because they lacked any physical item connected to the ghosts themselves," she stopped, and could have sworn she heard a snort from the white-haired boy in the corner, but she couldn't be sure. The people of the tour were all looking at her, paying avid attention and waiting for her to continue.

"Rumor is that a personal item of a ghost may be used to draw it out, or excise it from it's haunt, -"

"That's bollocks," rang out that deep, accented voice. Ashley faltered for a moment and glanced over at him. He was still reading his book. It annoyed her a bit that he would interrupt her like she didn't know what she was doing, but she ignored him and continued.

"- and some say that it's a key point of a exorc-"

"All bollocks."

Now she was getting pissed off. "Bollocks, you say?" she asked, turning to the boy, who cast his gaze sideways to look at her, his head still tilted towards his book. "I'll have you know that I've been doing these tours and researching spirits for years now. I'm pretty sure I have a wider knowledge of it than you do, young man."

He smirked, and leaned back, his book falling into his lap and his head finally turning towards her. "I highly doubt that."

"Oh, you do, do you? How, may I ask?"

"How?" he repeated, smirk stretching even further across his face. "Easy," he said, and then melted through the bottom of the couch.

Silence reigned. Nobody spoke a word, just stared wide-eyed at the couch the boy had previously occupied, now empty other than the thick book, still open to the whitenette's page. No one could believe what they had just seen. And no one noticed as he reappeared, emerging from the floor to stand right behind Ashley. He smiled and leaned over, waiting a few seconds before saying, "Boo."

Everyone screamed and turned, scrambling backwards and staring at the red eyed spirit.

"Easy," he repeated. "I've been dead for over five thousand years. For you to suggest that you know more about my kind than I do is rather insulting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have places to go, things to steal."

As the floor started rippling as the couch did before he sank through it, Ashley called out. "Wait!"

He stopped, one leg already knee depth through the floor, and raised an eyebrow.

"...Who are you?" she asked, feeling that shiver of fear again as he looked at her.

He chuckled. "Bakura," he told her, then disappeared, legs, torso, and smirking face one after the other.


End file.
